You’ve probably heard countless tips on becoming a better storyteller. From how to improve your pitch to what kind of props to use, there’s a wealth of advice available on how to become a better teller of stories. But what if you already are a great storyteller, but you don’t know how to go about showing it off? If you’re like many storytellers, you’re more of a natural than you think. But even though you have the gift, you may not know how to use it to its full potential. That’s where this week’s episode of The Side Hustle Pro comes in. It’s a special side hustle edition of the Utopia U-Podcast, where I talk to storytellers who are in the same boat I was when I first started. They all share some useful tips on how they’ve turned their side hustles into full-time careers. This episode is loaded with tips for becoming a better storyteller.
What Are Storytelling Probes?
A story is a summary of events that happened in time. It’s a narrative that helps us understand the past, predict the present, and make plans for the future. A good story can capture the attention of the listener, make the audience feel something, or change the course of the listener’s thoughts.
Why Use a Probing Technique?
When you tell a story, you are using a lot of languages. You’re using imagery, you’re using facts, you’re using stories, and you’re also using your voice. One of the best ways to get across your ideas and feelings to your listeners is to use a probing technique. A probing technique is a very useful way to get information from your listeners. It’s not an instruction, but rather a process that uses questions to get your listeners to open up about themselves, their problems, and their solutions. A probing technique is a friendly way to get your audience to talk about their problems and possible solutions.
Be Persistent with Your Research
One of the best ways to find out what your target market wants is to be persistent with your research. But as your ventures grow, you’ll want to invest more time in research so you can get better at telling your stories and selling your products/services.
Be Realistic About What You Want
It’s easy to set goals for yourself, but once you do, be realistic about what you expect to happen. For example, you may want to sell online courses, but you may not get more than one free course per month from your students. Or maybe you want to sell six products per month, but you only make $50 each time you sell a product. You need to be realistic with your goals so you don’t set yourself up for failure.
Be Realistic About the Time You Have
You can’t spend the entire day in your office brainstorming new business ideas. You need to be able to get some work done, too. So bear in mind how long it will take to put together a proposal and create a marketing plan for your products/services and figure out how you can fit it in. And don’t think about how you can fit in another project or two. Doing that is fine, but don’t forget about it after you’ve set a deadline for yourself.
Wrapping Up
When it comes to becoming a better storyteller, there are a few things you’ll need to focus on. Be persistent with your research and be realistic about how much time you have. Having these skills will help you to be successful when trying out this new hobby, and it’ll also help you to expand your side hustles into full-time careers.
Become a better listener
If you’re like most people, you spend the majority of your day talking to people. You might spend a few hours a week listening to others talk, but that’s a small fraction of the time you spend talking to others. What if you could learn to become a better listener and show up as a more effective communicator instead? That’s where listening practice comes into the picture. Practicing your listening skills can help you become a better listener in real life, as well as in your work environment. By making sure you’re always picking up on what people are saying, you can get more out of each conversation and show up as a stronger communicator.
Showing off your story-telling skills in the workplace
We all tell stories at work, whether we realize it or not. We tell stories to solve problems, show off our skills, or pass the time. But how often do you see stories told about how people are showing up in the workplace? What if there was a way to turn your passion for stories into a career in storytelling? That’s where the storytelling program at The Side Hustle Pro comes into play. The program teaches people how to flip their passion for stories into a full-time profession through a self-guided course. In the first module of The Side Hustle Pro storytelling program, you’ll learn how to tell powerful stories that convert and engage customers, employees, and business partners.
Tell great exit scenes
Everyone has a different story about how they got their start in show business. For many, it might have been through a childhood dream job. For others, it might have been through a job that leads to their first side hustle. Whatever your path to show business, chances are you’ve had great exit scenes where you got to say goodbye to your old life and hello to your new one as an entertainer. You don’t need to write a novel to create an exit scene. A classic approach is to use a character-driven story. In this type of story, you put the focus on the character’s journey and not on the ending. You might start as a high school student who matriculates to a university, only to realize that the work that got you there was not enough to sustain you. In that instance, your story could be about how you turned your passion for storytelling into a full-time job and became a published author.
Don’t be afraid to shake things up on your podcast
A lot of podcasts tackle the business of storytelling without a ton of change. You might have a great story to tell, but your host typically repeats the same three or four stories over and over again. What if you tried to tell your story differently? What if you wanted your listeners to be actively engaged in the story instead of just passively listening? Many podcasters get scared away from trying something new because they don’t want to “shock the audience” or “offend” anyone. But occasionally, you need to do things in a podcast that you wouldn’t necessarily do in person. For example, one of the most talked-about stories in the world is the one about Lorde and Taylor Swift. But did you know that the story wasn’t even about Lorde and Taylor Swift? It was about the paparazzi and the way that the media portrays celebrities. In some ways, it was a story about privacy and information rights. Make sure you shake up your show every so often. Try new techniques and approaches. Don’t be afraid to try something new and challenging. You might surprise yourself by how much your audience loves it and how much you’ve grown as a storyteller because of it.
Wrapping up: The Importance of Self-Care
If you’ve been following the Utopia U-Podcast for very long, you know that I’m a huge advocate of self-care. It’s something that I think is so important that I outline it in my book, The Utopia U-Podcast Self-Care Guide. The importance of self-care can’t be understated, even for those who are already working in the business world. You have to find a way to incorporate self-care into your work schedule so that you’re not just thinking about the present, but also the future. It may sound cliché, but you have to spend time taking care of yourself.
Conclusion
If you’ve ever felt stuck in a conversation or tempted to interject with a story only to realize you don’t know the answer and the other person does, this list of side hustles could help you.